Colour Selection Resources

 Colour selection, by far was the most painful part of the process.  Although it was fun to begin with, it will quickly do your head in and colour consultants can be helpful but the best advice we can offer is to collect heaps of magazine cut-outs of colour schemes that you find appealing and start from there.  One thing we found is that the volume builders (ie. Metricon, Porter Davis, Simonds, Burbank, Glenvill...etc...) do colours well as they employ teams of designers/architects/consultants to formulating their range & do al the hard work for you, so checkout their websites - most have good facade finder tools.  'Display Home Magazine' is a good one to flick through to see different colour schemes used by boutique through to volume builders.

Here are some handy resources we found to help with colour selection:

• Order Colorbond swatch samples here
• Metricon Studio M envisage to help with colour selections here
• Find colour swatch information here

New B&D Timbercoat Colours

We're trying to finalise all the colour selections and it's not getting any easier. We drove to the B&D display in Kilsyth where they have the new Jarrah Timbercoat finish on display. Jarrah looked too red for us and the cedar was too light. We're thinking the Merbau is the way to go. Now I just need to see an example.

Wiring, Switches, Dimmers, Powerpoints

Most of the upgrades on electricals were the addition of powerpoints, downlights, lights, switches, etc. The standard inclusion were Clipsal slimline, that look pretty good, but I was able to upgrade all switching mechanisms to Clipsal Impress to add that touch of class, not to mention how handy they will be for finding the switch in the dark. I know a lot of people spend a lot of money on C-Bus or Saturn switches, but I came across some info that said there are some aethestic limitations, particularly with 3 way switching. For example, a light switched elsewhere may not trigger the lighting in a Saturn/C-Bus 3-way switch. Our electrican knew exactly what I was talking about and said they have to provide additional wiring as a workaround, so even more reason to stick with the basic slimline and add impress mechanisms.

Pushbutton Universal Dimmer with IR remote

Clipsal Slimline with Impress

Impress Mechanism

Clipsal Powertainment 6 way with data/tv

Cedar Bath Mats

The house hasn't really started and we're already thinking about furnishings, odds & ends (getting a bit excited now!). We both liked the idea of cedar bath mats as they will not rot or produce mould and found a supplier in QLD Eumundi Cedar - this guy makes them locally, has set sizes & will also do custom sizes.  He uses stainless steel screws & rubber supports which is far superior than cheaper mats we've found. For anyone that's been to the Eumundi markets, 20ks from Noosa, it's a beautiful area and it's good to know they're made locally.

Schweigen BR500 Ducted Exhaust System for Drying Room

We picked up the exhaust fan for the drying room today and were surprised at it's size, or lack thereof but we are assured it's performance is exceptional.

The idea for a drying room came about due to the odd shape of the house, as one side of the house steps in several times and it was the perfect way to utilise an alcove. The obvious choice was to run the heat/cool vent into the drying room, but this tends to create excessive moisture in a confined space, possibly resulting in mould and moisture damage to the surrounds. We thought it better to pull air through using an extraction fan, imitating the current Asko drying cabinet design link.

After reviewing the details today, I may have gone slightly overboard with the BR500. Hopefully that means the clothes will dry much quicker ;)
Asko air movement 200 m³/hr, with approximate drying time for full load 120mins.
Schweigen BR500 using 150mm flex duct should attain between 550m3/hr to 650m3/hr

Charcoal Roof & Monument Fascia Gutters

Choosing the bricks as a starting point was reasonably straight foward, we knew what we liked and decided on the Daniel Robertson London bricks.  It's worth getting the opinion of your brikky or builder on mortar colour, as this can greatly change the look & feel of your facade.  For the Daniel Robertson London brick we chose, a light grey mortar really brings out the blue/grey, which is exactly the modern cool palette we were after.  Had we gone with a 'natural' mortar, the bricks would've looked more brown/tuscan - giving our home a completely different facade all together.  Render colour will also impact the overall look, so choose wisely.  the more sample pots you get, the better!  And make sure you view them next to the bricks (as many as you can get a hold of) & at different times of the day, in & out of direct sunlight.

Light Grey Mortar

Natural Mortar

For roofing tiles we decided on the charcoal (again, to bring out the blue/grey of the bricks).  You'll find the sample almost looks black but this is misleading as we soon learnt they look much lighter on a roof so ask the manufacturer for addresses so you can do some drive-by's; that's the only way to see the true colour. The only colorbond option for fascia's and gutters which complements our colour scheme is monument, so we've been looking for examples of the two. Now the hardest part... the render colour?

Bristile Classic Charcoal Roof with Colorbond Monument Fascia & Gutters

Toilets & Basins

For toilets and basins we were advised to see Reece Bathrooms and make our selection. Although they had some fantastic stuff, the items we liked were out of our price range. The other thing that surprised me was the amount of 'Italian' themed products that were in fact made in China. I assumed that most of the Caroma products were Australian made, but apparently this isn't always the case.

I was trying to find a particular basin and came across a company called Gemini Industries. We found they had a good range of stylish products at a reasonable price. I think you can get them through Reece or Bourne, but they are not commonly found on display. We asked our builder to source them. For the powder room we wanted something a little different/special and sourced a semi-recessed oval basin online.

Heart Flush to Wall

Quado 450/600/900mm available

Studio Bagno Ovo Basin for the Powder Room

Base bricking, garage slab, subfloor

Whilst we've been finalising the electrical and kitchen variations, the guys have been hard at work with the house. The base bricking was done, followed by the garage slab, concrete stumps and sub-floor.

Update on the rangehood, from Schweigen to Whispair

We were almost about to buy the Schweigen WM2190-SP 900mm rangehood when a sales rep mentioned the advantages of baffle filters, rather than the mesh type.

             

• More airflow
• Easier to clean
• More robust
• No oil drip
• Less noise, but can create hum if not setup properly

We also learnt that the tapered shape offered much better airflow than the flat canopies.

After further investigation we found a relatively new brand on the market Whispair. Someone mentioned that Whispair was started by an ex-Schweigen director/owner, but this could be pure speculation. After contacting Schweigen we got an interesting answer regarding noise and designs, but essentially their product won't be out  till later this year.

We have now purchased the Whispair London with Pro Plus motor - http://hausappliances.com.au/w5l09s.html
It's very similar, with minor improvements - LCD display (possible point of failure), dual halogen lights, baffle filters & higher airflow with Pro Plus motor.

NOTE: You won't get a discount on this brand as they have the same distribution model as Miele.